The Twins have placed 26-year old switch-hitting 2B Alexi Casilla on the 15-day disabled list due to a strained right hamstring. Casilla has played in 96 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 83 for 320 (.259 avg, .691 OPS) with 52 runs scored, 2 homers, 21 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. 29-year old switch-hitting infielder Matt Tolbert has been called up to replace Casilla on the active roster. Tolbert has played in 55 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 27 for 141 (.191 avg, .522 OPS) with 18 runs scored, 0 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Twins hope that Casilla only needs two weeks to heal.

Righty starting pitcher Kevin Slowey has just not been able to adjust to coming out of the bullpen this year for the Twins. With that in mind, the Twins are going to dangle Slowey in front of teams that have relievers that they are willing to deal. The Twins would love to deal with the Blue Jays for Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, Octavio Dotel or Jason Frasor. The Blue Jays have always liked Slowey so maybe the Twins could get one of those guys to help out late in games. They also likely have interest in righty Koji Uehara of the Orioles as he never walks anyone so he would fit right in with the Twins. Stay tuned this week as I think the Twins are going to get a reliever this week.

The Twins have released 28-year old righty reliever/starter Thomas Diamond. Diamond pitched in 7 games (5 starts) in AAA-ball for the Twins and he was 0-4 with a 8.25 ERA and a 1.96 WHIP. He has pitched in 21 games (10 starts) overall in AAA-ball this year for the Cubs and Twins and he was 1-7 with a 8.52 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP. This is no loss for the Twins as Diamond wasn’t going to help them any time soon.

The Twins have released 25-year old switch-hitting 2B/SS Steve Singleton. Singleton played in 81 games in AA+AAA-ball for the Twins this year and he was 84 for 308 (.273 avg, .731 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 6 homers, 30 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. He played in 615 games in his six years in the minors with the Twins and he was 636 for 2,258 (.282 avg, .747 OPS) with 301 runs scored, 36 homers, 248 RBIs and 27 stolen bases. The Twins didn’t think Singleton would develop into a major leaguer which is why they let him go.

25-year old righty swinging outfielder Delmon Young is having a pretty poor season for the Twins. In 2010, Young played in 153 games in which he was 170 for 570 (.298 avg, .826 OPS) with 77 runs scored, 21 homers, 112 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. The Twins were hoping that Young would produce about the same kind of numbers that he did in 2010 in 2011, but that just hasn’t been the case so far. Young has played in 62 games for the Twins so far this year and he is 62 for 233 (.266 avg, .636 OPS) with 22 runs scored, 2 homers, 22 RBIs and 1 stolen base. The Twins need Young to pick up the pace with the bat the rest of the season as they are having a very hard time scoring runs this year.